Eight-year-old Gunnedah swimmer Matilda Ramien has toppled the 46-year-old club record of former junior state champion Tabitha Andriunas, at the NSW Speedo Sprints heats in Tamworth.
Ramien shot up the pool in the eight years girls 50m butterfly to clock a lightning speed time of 43.44 seconds. Tabitha’s 1978 butterfly record of 43.80 stood for more than four decades and is one of the oldest on the Gunnedah club’s history books. Hailed as one of the best in her era, Tabitha swam under renowned Gunnedah coach Eric Arnold and set 11 state records between the ages of nine and 11 years. She won a swag of Country and State medals and also broke Australian PSSA records in the 100m freestyle and 200m medley in 1980.
Matilda’s older sister Molly Ramien (12), a national gold medallist who is now with St Peter’s Western Swim Club in Brisbane, also broke three of Tabitha’s earlier backstroke and butterfly records while she was swimming for Gunnedah, as well as talented silver national medallist Alexis Whitton who snatched her 10-year-old girls 50m freestyle record in 2022.
